From Bond Maid to Pioneering Chinese Businesswoman
Raised as a servant girl, Lai Ngan grew up to become a cigar maker, own a boarding house, and run grocery stores in the American Southwest.
The Gruesome History of Ohio’s “Fingers in the Jar”
Three of Mary Bach’s fingers, hacked off by her murderous husband in 1881, were displayed in a jar for more than a century in Bowling Green, Ohio.
The Rise of the LA Suburb in 1960s TV
The shift from city centers to suburbs was reflected in post-World War II television programming.
We Might Have Accidentally Killed the Only Life We Ever Found on Mars Nearly 50 Years Ago
In one experiment, the Viking landers added water to Martian soil samples. That might have been a very bad idea.
Visiting Christ’s Prison Cell
After Christian crusaders captured Jerusalem, the Prison of Christ featured on pilgrims' itineraries. But was Christ actually ever imprisoned there?
Japanese American Wives and the Sex Industry
Japanese American immigrant wives in the American West attempted to improve their living conditions through sex work.
Empress Matilda, George R. R. Martin’s Muse
Like the fictional character she inspired, Matilda was at the center of a civil war, fighting her own relatives for control of the royal throne.
“Microcosms of Empire” in the Colonial Grand Hotel
While Singapore's iconic Raffles Hotel may be marketed as a tranquil throwback to a bygone age, it also reveals the complicated truths of imperialism.
Women, Partition, and Violence
The 1947 partition of India and creation of Pakistan came with a hefty price—especially for the subcontinent’s women.
1610: Dawn of the Extraterrestrial
Galileo's telescopic view of the Moon sparked a giant transformation in the way human beings thought about the natural world.